Ore processing operations inevitably produce fine particles that in the past led to great process losses. Ore processing operations have developed ways to process these fine particles in order to make the overall operation more efficient than before. To make the fine particle processing as efficient as possible, it is important to know the quality of the fine particles entering the fine particle processing stages of the overall operation. Knowing the quality of the fine particles allows for process adjustments in the fine particle processing stages.
Cierpisz et al., “Coal Quality Monitoring and Control in Poland,” discusses the importance of measuring coal quality for such operations. The article initially discusses the measurement of coal quality using a gamma-ray back-scattered method. It continues by discussing the measurement of color in flotation tailings using a MPOF device. The article concludes by discussing various laboratory techniques used to determine the quality of coal.
Oblad et al., “Control of Fine Coal Flotation Using an Optoelectronic Tailings Ash Detector,” discusses a new optoelectronic instrument that measures the amount of fine coal in the solids fraction of a slurry of water, coal, and clay, either in the flotation cell or in the tailings. The instrument uses a collimated illumination source and a photoconductor chosen to have the correct voltage or frequency response to measure the internal reflectance of the slurry.
WO/2007/033415, by Lambert, describes a method of online analysis of mineral waste content of a slurry in a mineral separation process, the method including the steps of: measuring the density of the slurry, measuring the concentration of solids in the slurry, calculating the density of solids in the slurry from the slurry density and the solids concentration, and calculating the mineral waste content from the solids density. Lambert also provides an online analyzer for mineral waste content of a slurry in a mineral separation process.
Accordingly, there is a need for estimating the quality of ore in the tailings stream of an ore processing operation. Desirably, the ore quality is determined using a non-destructive, real-time technique. More desirably, once determined, the ore quality can be instantly input into a control loop that controls the coal processing operation, particularly the fine particle processing stages, as efficiently as possible.